low-medium premium EP recommendations for SCTs

Robert_T · #1 04-01-2006, 11:13 AM

Hi All, my recent stint under dark skies reminded me how lacking my eyepiece armoury is for anything other than planetary. I have a couple of 1.25mm cheap plossls of 25mm and 40mm, but other than that all my "good" eyepieces are 18mm or less in focal length. With my two cassegrains of 2140 and 2350mm FL these are a little lacking in FOV for much deep sky. Reckon I need some in the say 22 to 35mm range with >60deg fov.

I've read plenty on what's good in fast Dobs, but less on what's good in SCTs. Happy to pay good $ if the benefit is there, but I get the impression that much of the $ spent on top eyepieces like the Naglers is wasted on SCTs?

Only early probing at this stage but would welcome any feedbacks or feelings you have on this.

cheers,

matt · #2 04-01-2006, 11:38 AM

Am looking forward to the replies to that post Rob, being a fellow 9.25-er. Our situations Re: EPs sound pretty much the same.

Actually, I was going to post exactly the same question yesterday.

I'm looking to buy 2 or 3 mid to top-end EPs as replacements for the bunch I've been using which don't hold up (off axis) in the 2350 focal length.

Onya dude

davidpretorius · #3 04-01-2006, 12:37 PM

who ya gunna call - aus busters!!!

ausastronomer is the goto man!!!

if he can't answer it, no-one can!!!

beren · #4 04-01-2006, 01:50 PM

Finances aside I would have a 35mm Panoptic in a heartbeat {or maybe a 27mm pan

}. Just got a UO Koing Mk70 40mm which im pretty surprised with , not bad at all in my SCT , there is a Koing MK80 32mm to , worth checking . For a cheaper price theres the 80 degree UWA Irpd from Andrews and the Widescans .Im sure someone will follow with a pentax plug

Robert_T · #5 04-01-2006, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beren

Finances aside I would have a 35mm Panoptic in a heartbeat {or maybe a 27mm pan

}. Just got a UO Koing Mk70 40mm which im pretty surprised with , not bad at all in my SCT , there is a Koing MK80 32mm to , worth checking . For a cheaper price theres the 80 degree UWA Irpd from Andrews and the Widescans .Im sure someone will follow with a pentax plug

Thanks Beren, I'm interested in the panoptics, but reading the blurb on the web all they seem to talk about is how good they are with fast scopes down to F4 - makes me wonder whether they'd be worth it for SCTs - have you used one in your SCT?

I might get one anyway if they're really really shiny

cheers,

beren · #6 04-01-2006, 04:48 PM

Like yourself mate my eyepiece collection is tilted towards the mid and high range and Ive come close to buying a 35mm pan a few times .Ive never used one nor seen one live but have read enough and ask enough questions that convinces me that its not bad

I do have a 22mm nagler , my favourite eyepiece and the workhorse, from the lunar surface to DSOs I enjoy it and have never regretted parting cash for it {Id luv to look through a 26mm one day}.The 32mm Meade SWA I have is outclassed by the UOmk70 40mm , the 40mm gives a darker background reminiscent of the 22mm. Im addicted to wide field viewing and i do have 2 other scopes to match up with but for the SCT Im happy with the eyepieces i have now

asimov (John) · #7 04-01-2006, 04:56 PM

Konigs/celestron ultima's/vixen LV's/vixen LV-W's

MarkN · #8 04-01-2006, 05:04 PM

Robert_T

IF, and only, if, your budget suits then get yourself a Pan. Don't be surprised though, if sometime in the future, you get to try a much cheaper UO Konig in your SCT and you find yourself wondering why you spent all that extra cash which could have bought you a lot of other goodies!

That's the way I feel now. I'd drop a bundle if I sold my Naglers second-hand - much more than I'm prepared to drop. There aren't gunna be any more.
Not knocking Al Nagler or his products. I just think they're wasted on SCTs.

There are reports on Cloudy Nights by very discerning amateur astronomers which will confirm this viewpoint. Your SCT viewing won't suffer with a Nagler or Panoptic. It's simply that it hardly suffer much more at all with some other cheaper EPs.

Mark.

Let us all know what you finally decide.

h0ughy (David) · #9 04-01-2006, 05:27 PM

Robert_T,

I have a meade 5000 2" ultrawide 26mm and the superwide 34mm - both very nice in my SCT's, as well as a nagler 20, 17 and 9 - all 2". I have a Vixen LP30mm 2" and a russian 25mm 2" with 80 degree field. All very nice eyepieces and perform very well in SCT, in 5", 8", 10" and 12" used at f10 and f 6.3.

These have all been used in f4 scopes upwards and the meades have been used in a 30" scope - awesome.

Robert_T · #10 05-01-2006, 01:12 AM

Thanks Guys, some food for thought, but more always welcome.

The UO Konig widefields sound interesting and at a price hard to go too far wrong. Perhaps a 40mm konig then and a Nagler around the 20-22mm mark for fun? I can hear the cash registers ringing already

Houghy, that's a particularly impressive eyepiece array - if you couldkeep only one eyepiece for the larger SCTs which would it be?

cheers,

gaa_ian (Ian) · #11 05-01-2006, 08:01 AM

Good thoughts there on the Eyepieces
My Experience with a Meade LX-90 8" is that there is only a little difference between the performance of an Andrews 40mm 2" Wide Field & My UOmk70 40mm Konik.
Put the konik in my F5 Dob though, & it is markedly better.

shredder · #12 05-01-2006, 02:40 PM

Hi Robert,

I use a Mead 4000 SWA 24.5mm in an 8" SCT and love it. They can be found quite cheap 2nd hand now and really are worth the money. It would have to be my favorite ep. I have compared it to cheaper eps and it leaves them for dead, I have not compare it to Naglers / Panoptics or other high quality eps so cant really compare in that respect. Saying this get in touch with Louie, as he had the 24.5 and a similar sized Panoptic so he could give a better account in a C8.

Cheers

Michael

Rodstar (Rod) · #13 13-01-2006, 09:06 PM

So, what did you end up buying, Robert?

Robert_T · #14 13-01-2006, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodstar

So, what did you end up buying, Robert?

Rod, my bizaare, otherworldly response was to buy a 4x Televue Powermate instead...

still procrastinating on the low-medium power for SCT eyepiece... it's got worse actually, now it's between a 30mm or 50mm Takahashi LE, 35 or 27 mm TV panoptic, UOmk70 40mm Konig, or one of the Vixen LVW's in this range.

basically I'm now

waiting for Matt to spend his money first so he can tell me what's a good buy

Rodstar (Rod) · #15 14-01-2006, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert_T

Rod, my bizaare, otherworldly response was to buy a 4x Televue Powermate instead...

still procrastinating on the low-medium power for SCT eyepiece... it's got worse actually, now it's between a 30mm or 50mm Takahashi LE, 35 or 27 mm TV panoptic, UOmk70 40mm Konig, or one of the Vixen LVW's in this range.

basically I'm now

waiting for Matt to spend his money first so he can tell me what's a good buy

Sounds like you need to get yourself to a starparty, quicksmart, to try these for yourself. I don't think you can go far wrong with any of the above options.